We’ve just finished our first iPhone/iPad game with Unity 3, Flick Buddies. This post is a review of our experiences with Unity including its pros and cons. The review is slightly slanted toward iOS development however I touch on stand-alone and web-player builds as we created these versions in parallel.
Flick Buddies has just been released around the world for iPad and iPhone. You can grab it from the App Store below:
For the past three months I’ve been secretly working on a new project, Flick Buddies. Along with Shauno from Squid Tank we’ve been busily putting together a multiplayer action game for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The game is built around a simple premise of flicking little characters from your corner into the goal. With lots of obstacles to dodge and special abilities to help you score while stopping your opponents from scoring. Flick Buddies supports up to 4 players on a single iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch.
There are an increasing number of game development related conferences happening around the world. I went to GDC and Freeplay earlier this year and I’m attending GCAP tomorrow. Gamification has just been announced and it seems like the changing landscape in game development is being mirrored in the conferences held. Whenever conference time comes around I hear a lot of debate within the indie scene about their value. Today I’ll discuss the ways I determine whether a conference is worth attending and hope to help you with the decision.
I went to Freeplay Independent Game Festival in Melbourne, Australia on the weekend. It was a good conference with inspirational talks and a great opportunity to catch up on many of my friends in the indie scene. I noticed a trend among many indie developers I spoke to and wanted to raise some thoughts in this post. Many indie developers were developing their first game with a common complaint being that they didn’t have enough time to work on it. Today’s post is talking about this common condition and some thoughts on alleviating it.
Where is social gaming heading in the coming years and where does Facebook fit in? Facebook is the dominant platform in social gaming as the games industry strives to reach a broader audience and expand its market share. Today I discuss the current landscape of social gaming and where we are heading in the coming years.
I’m a mindie game developer and proud of it. But what does that mean? I’ve noticed a trend lately when it comes to indie developers. It seems to be all or nothing. You’re either Indie, with your beard and rebellious attitude or you’re mainstream with your suit and love of money. Why does it need to be so black and white? Am I the only person that wants to fit nicely in the middle, making deep and meaningful games that make a healthy profit? Can I be the bearded guy in a suit, or the clean shaven guy in a polo shirt? What’s wrong with wanting to be “mainstream indie”, or a “mindie” game developer?
How much do you think it costs to play the average Facebook game if you pay to play? While at GDC this year I spoke with a number of Facebook game developers about the spending habits of the average Facebook gamer. They told me I would never believe how much money the average “soccer mom” gamer was spending, and they were right. After some quick research I found that a game like FrontierVille can cost up to $60/hour. That is more than any other video game, ranging from arcades to subscription based MMO’s. Are payments of this magnitude sustainable? Today I discuss how we can make sustainable games for Facebook and convert the new, huge, Facebook market into long-term gamers.
[This is a guest post by James Bowling, from Last Level Games]
For the last 3 or 4 months I’ve been working on a start-up gaming company, Last Level Games. I’ve been tackling server side development, while a friend manages the client side. We both do this outside of our day jobs. We’ll have our first game looking for release in about a month, and another project we’re keen to get back on very soon.
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The casual games market seems to have taken over the industry of late. From GDC to water-cooler conversations around the office, everyone is talking about it. Much of this discussion also sees Facebook and the games on it in a negative light. Why is this? Today I’m going to dig a little deeper into the current casual games and propose a way we can embrace this new casual market.
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